


Deliver me

by 852_Prospect_Archivist



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Humor, None - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-10
Updated: 2013-05-10
Packaged: 2017-12-11 09:46:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/796863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/852_Prospect_Archivist/pseuds/852_Prospect_Archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The trouble with being poor is that it takes up all your time. --Willem de Kooning [01/29/04]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Deliver me

## Deliver me

#### by silvina

  
Standard Disclaimer. There are many things I have no control over. The financial aid department and the muse being two of them. Please send comments, questions, compliments, and otters to sdelcul@yahoo.com.  
  
  


* * *

"Jim?" 

Hearing his name, he paused momentarily in turning the page of his newspaper as Blair hung up the phone. 

"Yeah?" 

"Would you have to arrest me if you heard me threaten someone?" 

He turned the page and started reading. _Arrest?_ He looked up and Blair almost smiled. "Say that again?" 

Blair walked over and dropped onto the couch next to him. "If you heard me threaten to kill someone, would you have to arrest me?" 

"How serious is the threat?" 

"Very." 

"More than likely." 

Blair nodded, as if he had been expecting Jim's answer. "In that case I need you to turn down hearing and sight for about five minutes. Okay?" 

Unsure how to react, Jim examined the evidence in front of him. It was an unusual conversation, but Blair was unusual. His pulse was normal - breathing normal - blood pressure normal - he looked okay. He turned them down halfway. Not quite what Blair had asked, but it was enough for plausible deniability. "Sure, Sandburg." 

At his nod, Blair turned away. For five minutes he yelled, he screamed, he gestured wildly. After exactly four minutes and thirty seconds had gone by, he wound down. By the time he turned around and put his hand on Jim's shoulder, his heart rate was only slightly elevated. 

"Better?" 

"Yeah. Thanks." Blair moved away and began preparing dinner. 

Ok. "Hey, Chief?" 

Blair peeked out from behind the fridge. "Yeah?" 

"Are you gonna tell me what that was all about?" 

"Maybe." He shrugged and tossed the lettuce on the counter. "I dunno. You want carrots?" 

Jim thought about it. "Yeah, but no sprouts. So . . . ?" 

"So, I'm in repayment of my undergrad loans." 

"Aren't those deferred or something?" 

"Not when you're not in school anymore." 

He flinched as Blair sliced tomatoes with a vengeance. "If you need money-" he began. 

"I know, I know. That's not it, really. I mean it is, but it shouldn't be." 

"And translated into English that means?" 

"As an undergrad I turned down a loan because it was unsubsidized. According to my loan statement only half of it was returned, so they've been charging me the compounded interest." 

"You never got the money?" 

"No. I can prove that I declined the loan, so it's between the school and the lender really. All Rainier has to do is send a copy of the cancelled check as proof. Unfortunately they don't seem to want to do that. I don't want to talk about it anymore." 

"Okay. This is really good." he gestured at his plate. "What's it called again?" 

"Quinua. So how's the double homicide going?" 

"It's not really. Lots of rumors, lots of complaints, but nothing's really moving. There's a stakeout tentatively planned for later. Ask me then." 

Later Jim cleaned up while Blair studied. It was nice, he thought, to see Blair sandwiched between piles of papers and textbooks again. 

"Hey, Blair?" 

"Yeah?" 

"Nothing." he waved a dishtowel, "Never mind." 

Blair smiled. "No, I'm done. Thinking of going to bed." 

"Tired?" 

"Not really." 

"Oh. Oh." he grinned. "I'll be right there." 

Blair headed up the stairs. 

"Hey, Blair?" 

"Yeah?" 

"Do you miss teaching?" 

Blair shifted gears easily. "Not really. I liked it, but there was all the bull shit and grading." 

"Okay." 

"Don't be long. I'm starting without you." 

* * *

**"AHHHHHH!"**

At the sound of Blair's scream, Jim was up and out of bed and down the stairs in seconds. 

"Are you okay?" He slid to a stop in front of Blair. 

"Fuck!" Blair took a step back holding a hand to his chest. "You scared me to death! Why are you even here adding to my hell?" 

He put both hands up to ward off Blair's words. "Hold on a sec. You're the one who came in and started yelling." 

"I started yelling," Blair replied, "because it is illegal to grab people and shake the stupid out of them." 

Knowing it would tick Blair off even further, Jim was powerless to prevent his laughter. "Legislation by the stupid, for the stupid?" 

Rather than laughing, Blair took a deep breath and let it out. Blinking slowly, he looked up at Jim as if seeing him for the first time. "Hey." He said softly, "What are you doing here?" 

"Mustafa turned himself in. I was sleeping off the stake out until you started yelling. What happened?" 

Caught in the middle of taking of his coat, Blair paused. "I stopped by the financial aid office again." 

"Any luck?" 

"She was at _breakfast_. At 9:40 in the morning. Who goes to work to have breakfast?" 

"Sarah Carthon apparently." 

"Left another voice mail, not that it'll help. I swear I'm not sure if she actually exists. It's not like she ever returns her calls." 

Jim nodded, wisely passing Blair a bottle of water from the fridge and said nothing. 

"I went to the academy and tried calling again during PE." He drank half the bottle in one extended swallow. 

"Nothing?" 

"Nothing." 

"Want me to run a check for unpaid parking tickets?" 

Blair almost managed not to choke on the water he'd been in the middle of swallowing, but what he didn't swallow down the wrong pipe went spraying out of his mouth right onto Jim's face. As if that wasn't enough, the wounded indignity on Jim's face as water dribbled down his chin was just too much for Blair. By the time he managed to breath again, Jim had wiped his face off with a towel and was pounding him on the back in an attempt either to save him or to kill him. He wasn't sure it was the former. 

"I'm okay. You can stop now." He wheezed. 

Ignoring him, Jim pulled him to sit on the couch. "Just sit down and give it a rest for a moment okay? Humor me." 

He fought the urge to relax, but Jim's warm, comforting presence next to him was more powerful than his frustration and he melted to rest against him. "I'm sorry." He said quietly. "I didn't mean to wake you up." 

Jim shrugged. "You were pissed and you didn't know. You'll make it up to me later." He said. "But seriously, is there anything I can do?" 

"I wish there was. I just wish I'd noticed the problem earlier. Maybe if I was still there they'd care more about correcting my loan balance. As it is they're not exactly motivated." 

"Steven offered to help." 

"Let him. At this point I'm willing to try anything." 

* * *

Three weeks later Blair checked his loan statement by habit. Staring at the screen in wonder he dialed the phone. Loan 3 had disappeared. 

"Steven, I could kiss you." 

"Thanks, but I think if you did Jim might get upset." he laughed. 

"What did you do?" 

"I just had a little chat with a friend at the Office of Ombudsman at the Department of Education." 

"Cool." 

"It's not an apology or anything, but at least this way you can start paying off what you actually owe. Think of it as an early birthday present." 

* * *

Author's note: In my case it took 5 months and that call to the DOE to clear this up. In all that time I never once heard from or actually talked to the woman supposedly working on my file in the financial aid department at my university, despite repeated emails, voice mails, and drop ins. I'm still not sure she really exists. 

* * *

End Deliver me by silvina: sdelcul@yahoo.com  
Author and story notes above.

  
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